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Irene Bedard
| birth_place = Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. | other_name = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1994–present | residence = Yellow Springs, Ohio, U.S.Witt students, experts seek to understand Native American history Retrieved 2018-05-23. | notable_works = Voice of Pocahontas in Disney's Pocahontas (1995–present), Suzy Song in Smoke Signals, Margaret in Into the West | spouse = | children = 1 | golden_globe_awards = Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee (1994)}} Irene Bedard (born July 22, 1967) is an American actress who has played many Native American characters in a variety of films. She is perhaps best known for the role of Suzy Song in the film adaptation of Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals as well as for providing the voice of the title character in the animated film Pocahontas. In 2012, she started "Sleeping Lady Films" and "Waking Giants Productions" with Canadian businessman Thom Denomme. The production companies, based out of Anchorage and Santa Fe, New Mexico, are dedicated to bringing stories that are both positive and inspirational from Indian Country to the world. Early life and career Bedard was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and is of Inupiat, Yupik, Inuit, Cree and Métis ancestry. Her first role was as Mary Crow Dog in the television production, Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee, which depicted the 1970s standoff between the US government and citizens of several Native nations, including many of the Pine Ridge Reservation, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. She is probably best known as the voice of the eponymous heroine in the Disney animated film Pocahontas and its direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. Bedard was also the physical model for the character. She appeared in a different take of the story in Terence Malick's 2005 film The New World, as Pocahontas's mother, Nonoma Winanuske Matatiske. Bedard attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she studied Musical Theatre. In 2005, she was cast in the television mini-series Into the West, portraying the half-Lakota, half-white adult Margaret "Light Shines" Wheeler. In the 2017 music video for "Family Feud" (a song by Jay-Z), she plays a Co-President of the United States in the future. She was chosen in 1995 as one of People magazine's '50 Most Beautiful People'.Irene Bedard profile, people.com; accessed May 5, 2015. Personal life Bedard married singer Deni Wilson in 1993. They have a son, Quinn Wilson, born in 2003. In November 2010, it was revealed that Bedard was being sexually and physically abused by Wilson throughout their marriage, taking her earnings and forbidding her to work in her career field unless he specifically approved the project, according to her niece Alia Davis. The couple eventually divorced in 2012. Filmography Awards and nominations References External links *[http://www.who2.com/irenebedard.html Irene Bedard Biography] at who2.com * * Category:1967 births Category:Actresses from Anchorage, Alaska Category:American film actresses Category:American people of Métis descent Category:American television actresses Category:American voice actresses Category:Cree people Category:Inuit actresses Category:Inupiat people Category:Living people Category:People from Yellow Springs, Ohio Category:University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios people Category:Disney voice actors